Quotes Library

April 25, 2025

Government…is simply not the channel through which men’s noblest impulses are to be realized. Its task, on the contrary, is largely to see to it that the ignoble ones are kept under restraint and not permitted to go too far.

George Kennan (1904–2005), American diplomat, historian. Around the Cragged Hill (1993), Jay p.203

Did you come to elective office to do good, or to do well? Have you sacrificed the former in the interest of the latter? Do you think Kennan read The Federalist as a student?

If you want to pursue a noble human impulse, join the NGO of your choice. *non-government organization.


More Quotes

February 10, 2025
I expect to be disagreed with. That’s better than being a politician who decides to say nothing serious.
November 23, 2025
You may be sure that when a man begins to call himself a realist he is preparing to do something that he is secretly ashamed of doing.
August 24, 2025
The human brain starts working the moment you are born and never stops until you stand up to speak in public.
Page 11 of 123